Happy Independence Day!!

What a great Independence Day celebration we had!!

I hope you were able to join us, but if you weren't I hope your student told you all about it!

We had full of student-led presentations, Honduran songs and dances, and some speeches. We were also served Honduran foods...yum!! The Seniors also debuted their project...anyone who wishes to adopt a tree can contact me through my blog, or any of them through theirs (check out the blog links to the right of your screen!) All the class floats turned out really well!

Here is 6th Grade's float about Comayagua:

the 7th Graders with their Amapala float:

and the 8th Grade Bay Islands float:

(Sorry Seniors, I didn't get a picture of your float...send me one so I can put it up!)

Now, of course, we are all on our Holiday break...I hope you are having a safe and happy vacation, and will return to school and work next week rested and full of pride in this beautiful country!

KF

PS: If any of you have some excellent pictures from the celebration, the Discovery School Yearbook would LOVE to have them (and we'll give you full artists' credit)! If you have any pictures to contribute, please send me an e-mail at kfink@discoveryschool.edu.hn!

A Sneak-Peek at the 6th Graders' Comayagua Float!

There have been a lot of floats "floating" around my room this week! (OK, two bad puns in two posts, I apologize! :)

Anyway, I just wanted to share a small element of the 6th Graders' float with you...a VERY kind and generous parent provided us with some colored wood shavings which are traditionally used in the creation of beautiful "rugs" in religious motifs...

The 6th Grade class was kindly given permission to work on their float in Mr. Taylor's art class, and we spent a happy Tuesday afternoon using the wood shavings to make our own Honduran-inspired "rugs"...

Take a look:

We are really looking forward to showing these off during our Dia de la Independencia celebration on Friday!

KF

7th Grade Country Cultures Parade Project!

Hello all:

I just wanted to share a few images to show the excellent work our 7th Graders at Discovery do!

At the end of the week just two short weeks ago I assigned the students to complete a parade float that explained the 7 Elements of Culture in a fun and creative way...and go figure, I got A LOT of fun and creative projects!!

Here is a sampling:
The students each stood in front of the class and presented their country and its culture, and were graded on criteria ranging from the physical looks of their floats, to the accuracy of the information they put on them, to the interesting facts they found about their country.

They were also supposed to complete and hand in a works cited page...this is something we will be continuing to "work" on for our next project! :-S

After presentations, the students all voted on their favorite two projects. And here are the "winners":From Left to Right:
2nd place (tie)--South Africa and The Netherlands, 3rd place--Egypt, and 1st Place--Jamaica

Congratulations to all the students on a JOB WELL DONE!! and to the 4 "class-choice" winners!!

KF

Week of: September 6-10

Good morning!

Hope you are having a good start to this short (although not as short as next week) week...and Happy Labor Day to those of us from the United States.

This week the 6th Graders are going to start working on the 7 Elements of Culture. They will be creating short skits this week to illustrate each of the 7 Elements, and then will head into the long weekend with the assignment to re-create the first element, Social Structure, by manufacturing a family to live in the country they created last week.

The 7th Graders worked hard all weekend on their Country Float Projects (I hope!)...today and probably tomorrow they will present them to the class. The rest of the week we will be finishing up our short unit on charts and graphs.

8th Grade this week will finish up their Ancient Mesopotamia unit, looking at the fall of the society and taking a quiz on Thursday.

The Seniors will see me only once this week, and we will start looking at the important skills of summarizing and paraphrasing. They will not have a blog post due next Monday because of the break, but hopefully will use this week off to catch up on any blog posts they may be missing...

Midterm grades come out this week...hopefully everyone is sitting where they want to be in my classes!

It has been a great first half to the quarter...remember we have a half-day on Friday, and our Independence Day Parade...don't forget to send your 100 Lemps with the youngest family member so everyone can partake in the delicious Honduran Food!

Have a great week!

KF

(6th Grade) Honduran Activities

Good morning!

The 6th graders did an excellent job of standing (and not complaining too much about it) during the Honduran Flag Day event this morning.

Afterward we went back to class and discussed our float for the Honduran Independence Day parade next Friday! I don't want to give away any of our secrets, but I think the students came up with some excellent ideas. Parents, ask your 6th grade student about it, and what they volunteered to bring for the float.

We will be dedicating a bit of every class day next week to our floats, so if they could bring their supplies on Monday (or before) that would be perfect!

Please remember also that the school is asking for 100 Lempira (per family--cash only) to cover the costs of the celebration...if your student is your youngest (or only) child attending the school, please send the money with him or her to give to me so I can pass it on to the school. I can write a receipt for anyone who wants one. :)

Thanks so much for all your support!
KF